Roberson v. Mississippi
Annotate this CaseA jury convicted Terry Roberson for the murder of Tonya Burton and for being a felon in possession of a firearm. On appeal, Roberson claimed the trial court erred by denying his proposed circumstantial-evidence instruction, by failing to grant a mistrial or spoliation instruction based on a missing audio recording, by failing to grant a mistrial based on hearsay testimony, and by admitting a shotgun and several shotguns shells into evidence. He also claimed the State presented insufficient evidence to support his conviction for murder. After review, the Supreme Court found: (1) the circumstantial-evidence instruction was fairly covered elsewhere in the instructions; (2) Roberson’s due process rights were not violated, and he failed to request a spoliation instruction; (3) the trial judge offered and Roberson rejected an instruction to cure the hearsay testimony; (4) the shotgun and shells were admissible relevant evidence; and (5) the evidence supported the jury’s verdict. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the trial court.
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